HAMPSHIRE County Council is considering a council tax rise of almost four per cent to plug the gap left by a £48m cut to its Government grant for 2016/17.

Cabinet members met to consider how to balance the county council’s revenue budget to cover the cost of providing services, including a rise in adult social care costs.

The Government provisional settlement was £29m worse than the county council had expected – compounding cuts in previous years which have already halved the authority’s funding.

“We are facing the most challenging period of the prolonged national austerity measures,” said council leader Roy Perry.

“In Hampshire, this means having to deliver savings of £98m by April 2017, rising to a further £140m of savings by 2019/20.

“We have a strong reputation for careful financial planning, which has delivered £240m of savings since 2008, but it’s clear that having lost so much of our Government grant, future savings will become even harder to find.

“Our approach to date, has focused on running the county council more efficiently by reducing the cost of back office functions; using savings to help protect front line services; and prudently using some reserves to manage the costs of change.

“We are proposing to continue applying these principles in the years ahead, as well as considering an increase in council tax for the first time in six years – an approach which was supported by the majority of people who fed back to us during our summer consultation.

Under the proposals the county’s council tax precept for next year would increase by 3.99 per cent – generating around £20m in annual revenue.

For residents in an average Band D property, this would equate to an extra £41.40 for the year 2016/17 or just under 80 pence extra, per week.

The council tax charge from Hampshire County Council for the year beginning on April 1, would be a total of £1,079.28 at Band D.

The percentage includes two per cent to help specifically fund adult social care - even though this only provides £10m against anticipated costs of £35m in adult social care, next year.

Mr Perry added: “While a proposed increase of 3.99 per cent would contribute towards making up some of the lost grant and social care costs next year, we would still need to use £55m of reserves to plug the remaining gap, leaving us with nothing for future years.

“We had always anticipated using some reserves to balance the budget next year to give us the time to reshape and modernise our business, but we had not expected to need to use so much – especially when proposing to put up council tax.”

Alongside the revenue budget, the capital budget proposals total £563m over the next three years.

It includes £230m investment in new and extended school buildings to provide a further 11,000 primary and secondary school places.

More than £180m is also set aside for major repairs, maintenance and improvements to schools and other public spaces.

In addition, £129m has been earmarked for structural maintenance of roads and bridges while £123m would be assigned for transport schemes to improve access to key employment areas and smaller local projects to improve safety and traffic flow on the roads.

Almost £1m is proposed to invested in new technology across the county council.

The cabinet met to discuss the total £1.9bn gross revenue budget for 2016/17 and capital programme for the next three years – the full county council will make a final decision on Thursday.

West Sussex is proposing a council tax increase of 3.95 per cent. A worse-than-expected grant from Government and an increasing demand for services has left West Sussex with a £44.2m black hole in funding from its £529m 2016/17 budget.

The county says increasing its council tax will safeguard critical frontline services and protect the most vulnerable.

A final decision will be taken on Friday.